


Still Life Basket

by EvilMuffins



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-09 15:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11107647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilMuffins/pseuds/EvilMuffins
Summary: “I was wondering why you always wear a sweater, even during a heatwave. I thought it was only because you couldn’t afford clothes, but…”---Not for the first time, Akira questions Yusuke's priorities.





	Still Life Basket

**Author's Note:**

> Someone get my man Yusuke a cheeseburger or something.

Was Yusuke really into this stuff? Akira wondered as he flipped another page.

Akira was an eavesdropper, yes, he wouldn’t deny that less than upstanding habit of his, however he drew the line at rifling through his friend’s things. If the book hadn’t been left lying open on the desk, he likely never would have seen it.

It was almost like a calling card of sorts, beckoning him to take notice. If hadn’t known Yusuke as well as he did, he might have thought it had been deliberate. However, Yusuke being scattered was nothing new, as evidenced by the stacks of sketch books and canvases peppering the modestly sized dorm room, crowned by splattered palettes like the whipped cream with sprinkles topping a very precariously tall stack of pancakes.

“Did it stay still long enough?” Akira asked as Yusuke returned to the room. If he had any qualm over seeing Akira perusing the book, his face betrayed nothing of it.

“No, sadly it took flight after a moment or two,” Despite this, Yusuke still looked quite pleased with himself. “However, my skill allowed me capture the bird’s essence nonetheless.”

With all the pride of a first-grader brandishing his crayon drawing at the teacher, Yusuke presented the sketch for Akira’s consideration.

For having sketched it out while leaning out of the bathroom window, it was actually quite detailed.

“Cool.” Was all that Akira managed, earning a satisfied nod from Yusuke in return. He never really knew what to say when it came to art, Yusuke’s or otherwise. Although he felt himself  learning more and more about the topic the more time the two spent together (which was often since the start of summer), Akira still knew that he had a long way to go.

Still, the brief appraisal seemed to be sufficient for Yusuke, just as Yusuke’s wordlessly dashing out of the room upon seeing a bird flutter past the window toward the tree growing outside of the bathroom, had been enough for Akira. Somehow or another, whatever it was that they had together was doing quite fine for itself without an excess of explanations…for the most part.

“Do you look at books like this often?” Akira asked conversationally, hand waving vaguely over the two-page spread of a nude woman laid out on the desk before him.

Yusuke’s brows quirked upward in that particular way that always made Akira want to say things that would take him by surprise more often. “Why, of course. Good references are a necessity. After the misadventure with Ann, I came to realise that for some reason, girls are generally opposed to posing in the nude for a person they have only just made acquaintance with. I had no choice but to purchase sufficent reference material instead.”

“Let me put it to you this way,” Akira tented his fingers, elbows propped on the desk as he thought how to respond. “Would you lounge around naked for me if I asked you to?”

That same expression again. “Why, that goes without saying.”

Akira suddenly remembered the conversation they had had about the air conditioning in his room some days ago. Now, just as then, the image conjured up was not unappealing.

“Would you like to see some of the other material I’ve gathered?” Yusuke asked eagerly, endearingly oblivious as always.

Akira shrugged. “Sure.”

Although, he wasn’t really all that jazzed for seeing more pin-ups that did next to nothing for him, it was worth it to see Yusuke so passionate.

Before he had met the Phantom Thieves, Akira had simply cruised through life, never having harbored much of a strong interest in anything. While all of his new-found friends’ hobbies and interests were more or less enjoyable to participate in alongside them, Yusuke’s particular brand of zest stood out especially.

Yusuke ushered Akira toward the bookcase, nudging plastic portfolio cases out of the way with his foot.

As Yusuke’s fingertips hovered over the spines in search of which ever book it was that he wanted to show Akira, the other boy couldn’t help but to think that if Yusuke could cut down on artbook spending alone, he would be more than likely be able to afford proper food for himself. How many books were on this case? One-hundred? One-fifty? All hard-covers too, and likely purchased new, as the spines weren’t worn enough to have been pre-owned. The earthy scent of paper lingered.

“I found the poses in this one quite enlightening,” Yusuke said, passing Akira the book he had just pulled.

“Hey, Yusuke,” Akira looked up from the pages he continued to flip although his eyes were on Yusuke instead. “How _do_ you see the models- the people in these books- or the live people you paint in your classes?”

“I’m not sure that I follow.”

“Do you see them as people, or as like…the bowl of apples in a still-life?”

Yusuke stood silent for a moment, pausing in the midst of reaching for another book, before answering, more quietly than usual. “You truly never do fail to put things into perspective for me, do you?”

Taking that as a ‘yes’, Akira softened his voice to match Yusuke’s, speaking in much the same tone he used while stealing past wary Shadows in the Palaces, his expression snaking into a smirk to match, glasses reflecting light from the window. “Do you see me that way?”

Akira hadn’t failed to noticed the glances Yusuke stole as they fought side-by-side, the way Yusuke’s hand lingered on his own each time he called for a baton pass.

“…Akira, I-“ Whatever Yusuke had been about to say was lost to the cacophony of thuds caused by the cascade of books raining down upon them due to Yusuke having distractedly removed one hefty from the shelf that had apparently been crucial to the overall infrastructure.

“Geez…You okay?” Akira asked. He was certain that his arms would be itchy with papercuts ringed by bruises in the morning. His lower half had faired much better, however, his behind having been cushioned by Yusuke’s thighs beneath him.

Surely, the noise must have woken Morgana, but one peek over toward the bed showed that he still napped soundly.

“Ugh…” Yusuke groaned, dazed from the back of his head making contact with the floor.

“Yusuke? Hey…” Although Akira knew that Yusuke had endured much worse at the hands of the Shadows, somehow seeing him without his mask- delicate features screwing up into a wince as he lay on the thin layer of carpeting- made him look vulnerable in way that took Akira off guard. The mere inches between their faces as Akira straddled him, one palm flush against his chest certainly didn’t detract from the matter.

“Akira… I must ask forgiveness for pulling you down with me like that.” Despite the apology, Yusuke made no move to remove his hand from its grasp on Akira’s other wrist.

Using his free hand, Akira gave Yusuke’s chest a soft pat, the feeling of prominent bones apparent, even through his gaudy shirt.

“Wha…?” Yusuke managed to sputter.

Akira gently pulled his wrist free, in order to roll back Yusuke’s sleeve back toward the elbow, wrapping his hand around Yusuke’s bare wrist instead. His entire grip fit around it easily, slight as it was. “I was wondering why you always wear a sweater, even during a heatwave. I thought it was only because you couldn’t afford clothes, but…”

It was stuffy in the dorm- an oppressive closeness - although being situated on top of one another just like another one of Yusuke’s stacks of art parafinallia certainly didn’t help.

“When was the last time you ate anything?” Akira attempted to keep his accusatory tone to a minimum, however he also knew that Yusuke wasn’t someone you could beat around the bush with and expect any sort of result.

“Yesterday at lunch, when you made curry for me at the shop,” Yusuke replied, one pink cheek turned toward the carpet, avoiding Akira’s piercing gaze.

“You probably wouldn’t fall over so easily if you would just eat properly.” As Akira spoke, he became aware of the fact that he had yet to remove his other hand from Yusuke’s chest, the rise and fall of it somewhat soothing, even if the rate at which he took a breath was beginning to increase.

“You know that I can’t afford it,” Yusuke protested, eyes darting briefly toward the fallen books that still surrounded them on all sides, like stones ringing a campfire.

It must be due to the heat, Akira told himself, but at the moment, he found himself with an errant steak of boldness screaming for an outlet.

“You keep telling me that you’d have no problem with going naked, yet you live in this thing,” Akira jabbed, commenting on the sweater again as he bunched it up to expose Yusuke’s ribs, only just barely buried beneath skin as pale as one of his blank canvases, while still holding his wrist to the floor in his other hand. How did he even manage to hold up that rifle during battles? Akira mused. Not only that, but he looked damn fine while doing it too.

Yusuke turned his head back to look Akira straight on with the appraising eyes of an artist, causing this earlier question to resurface about just what he looked like to the painter.

“Because it’s you, Akira. Did you really think that I’d say those things to just anyone?”

Akira was taken aback. The fact was, he _had_ thought that Yusuke would say such a thing to anyone. Offering to walk around naked was only marginally more cringe-inducing than many of the other things out the boy’s mouth.

His composure recovered quickly, however, as deft fingers ran over Yusuke’s ribs, Akira marveling at the shape of the bones beneath skin, made all the more prominent by his laying flat on the floor. The bulky sweater had done well to disguise just how thin he really was. Akira traced a line over his stomach, earning a sharp intake of breath.

“Then stop spending all of your money on art supplies, and eat something. For me.”

Before Akira could hear the protest that he knew was coming, he leant down, shifting his hand from Yusuke chest to the floor just above his shoulder, bracing himself as his lips ghosted over Yusuke’s.

The touch was brief, as fleeting as the transition between their world and the Metaverse, Akira’s head left with just as similar a floating sensation after pulling away.

Akira stood, helping Yusuke up as well, hand sliding from his wrist to fit comfortably into the other boy’s hand. “Come on. We’ll go back to Le Blanc and I’ll make you something on the house.”

Yusuke touched a finger to his lips with his free hand. “Say for a moment that I do begin take better care of myself. Might there, in the case, be more where that came from?”

 

_end_

 


End file.
